If you have ever spent a fair amount of time in the city of Eugene, you have likely been a witness to the city’s unique and quirky culture, brimming with art, creativity and the classic tie-dye with birkenstocks combination. No place is better to fully embrace and engage with the Eugene sub-culture and community than the famous Eugene Saturday Market.
Founded in 1970, this weekly event brings together Lane County’s top creatives of nearly every medium. From jewelers and painters to chefs and musicians, the Saturday Market celebrates the city’s vibrant community of visionary artists and creators, rich with self-expression and individuality. Among the dozens of booths stretched across multiple blocks between East 8th Avenue and South Park Street, nothing stands out more than the expansive variety of handcrafted clothing booths that dominate the event.
It doesn’t take long to see that DIY tie-dye is a major theme for many vendors at the market. Michely Andreotti, a local tie-dye designer and creator, has been bringing his psychedelic T-shirt designs to the Saturday Market for over a decade.
“I got into doing tie-dye about 12 years ago,” Andreotti said. “First I collected it for many years. And then I had some time off between jobs, and I started doing it myself.”
The T-shirts and tapestries that fill his booth display a trippy, geometric mosaic of what seems to be every color under the sun. A star-like symbol centers every shirt, which cascades into an array of splotchy waves of color that seem to flow from the center. His many years of experience in this craft has led him into many directions for design and inspiration for new patterns.
“The tie-dye journey itself has been interesting,” Andreotti said. “I started off doing the basic stuff like spirals, and then I started doing what I call the symbolics like double guitars and peace signs. And then I progressed into geometry, and that has really become rewarding for me.”
Clocking in about 20 hours a week of tie-dyeing, Andreotti described his process as being very intense and time consuming, taking nearly three hours on a single shirt. Nonetheless, his deep passion for the craft has been fuel to the soul as he does what he loves.
“It’s become sort of a spiritual thing for me. It’s something I really enjoy to do,” Andreotti said. “Here I’m a grown man getting to play with color, so that’s really cool. I try to bring happiness and color into the world.”
Harlequin Okikai, another clothing designer and vendor, has brought her creative talents to the Eugene and Portland area for years now. Though she has been working in her craft long before making her appearance at the market.
Okikai has been involved with the Saturday Market for about eight years and has been actively vending for about two seasons, but she has been making her own clothing for about 18 years.
Delving into a myriad of materials, designs and clothing patterns, her primary focus remains on creating relaxed, comfortable, women’s apparel — and even doing custom work for people as well.
“Everything is handmade; I like to have a little bit of everything from swimwear to standard streetwear or lingerie,” Okikai said. She also emphasized her priority on handcrafting her clothing in a sustainable way. “I use a lot of bamboo material and lace. I buy raw material as local as possible. Sustainability is really important to me.”
Okikai’s time at the Saturday Market has given her a strong sense of community and personal belonging. Interacting with the people and getting to showcase her original pieces is very valuable to her, and it is a significant reason she has found her place at the market.
“I feel like I’ve been welcomed so wonderfully,” Okikai said. “It’s really flattering, and it just feels really good being here.”
The Saturday Market is a mecca for Eugene’s lively creative culture and is an opportunity for people to engage with and support the local art and fashion scene. Vendors are enthusiastic to expose their creativity to the community, and you can count on them to be there every weekend.
